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One idea that has worked really well for me when it comes to classroom management is what I call the "thank you" strategy. I usually use it when I'm starting to feel frustrated when students are not listening.

After I have given directions (like get out your social studies book and open to page 15) and notice that only a few are actually doing what I asked, I scan the room and say, "Thank you to the 1... 2... 3... (start counting the students) who are ready with their social studies books open to page 15."

When students start hearing me count, several more will scramble to do what I've asked so they can be included in the count. I like this strategy because students usually know when they are doing what I've asked, so they are proud to be included in the count even though I'm not calling out names. It also works because it very clearly gives the expected behavior that I'm looking for. I can follow up in a few more seconds with the updated count to include those who have turned the behavior around. And since I'm not mentioning specific names, I can fib a little. I can look in the general direction of students and just start counting. I don't need to get an actual count in order for this to be effective. No one has ever told me that there were actually 12 students with their books out instead of 14. :)

This was a fun (and unexpectedly difficult) name project we did in the fall. I think this was a Runde's Room inspiration, but correct me if I'm wrong. Give the kids a piece of paper with a large circle on it. They have to fill as much of the space as possible with their names. Color their names, and cut out the white space. Most of my students struggled with this. They couldn't understand why their letters had to touch and why they had to share lines to make their letters. Mine turned out awesome at least!

This snow globe writing and craft activity was a from a combination of sources. The gist is a five-paragraph creative writing activity about how they got in the snow globe and their attempts to get out. We got a few ideas from watching the {Knick Knack Pixar short}. The kids were pretty creative! They chose a scene to recreate a snow globe, which included a picture of them, fake snow {Amazon affiliate link}, and a clear plastic plate {Amazon affiliate link}. This wasn't as messy as glitter (which is forbidden in my room), but I underestimated the static electricity-ness. (I did the snow and gluing part. Since the plate had ridges, I had to make sure that snow wasn't going to leak out.)